France further restricts bird hunting

Council of State classifies lark hunting as illegal

France's Council of State has further restricted recreational hunting of birds.

The country's highest administrative court ruled on Monday that hobby hunting of larks with nets and cages is illegal and incompatible with EU law, as the newspaper «Le Monde» reported. In its ruling on the merits, the Council of State permanently overturned several government decrees from October 2022.

Tradition does not justify animal cruelty

As the court in Paris ruled, hobby hunting of birds cannot be justified by respect for tradition. France cannot simply authorise, by decree, hunting methods that have been banned under an EU bird protection directive since 2009, merely on the grounds that they constitute a traditional practice. It has not been demonstrated that skylarks could not simply be shot if one wished to hunt them.

Furthermore, hobby hunting with nets and cages carries the risk of a not insignificant bycatch of other bird species, the newspaper quoted from the court ruling.

Battle against time-honoured methods

In recent years, the Council of State had already moved against traditional bird hunting methods by overturning framework regulations from 1989 that permitted hobby hunting using glue traps for other bird species. The government had regularly invoked these regulations to re-authorise their use under pressure from France's militant hunting lobby.